PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE (ICT)

UPDATE 16/10/2012: FULL ASSIGNMENT INCLUDING SAMPLE TEACHER TRAINING MATERIAL DOWNLOADABLE 

- SEE BOTTOM OF EMBEDDED SCRIBD DOC.

Following my ICT in ELT module at the University of Warwick, I have just completed a Professional Practice module for ICT.  For this I had to make a proposal to introduce an innovative technology into an English Language Teaching setting familiar to me - in my case, I chose the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing.  This was a hypothetical proposal based on a real setting and a real teaching situation.  It is not a proposal which is actually going to be introduced at CAFA (unless somebody there happens to read this and nicks the idea). It is, however, an idea for using the innovative tool in any appropriate ELT setting.  The tool I chose, following the number of pageviews on this blog and general feedback received, is the cloud based software presentation tool, MyBrainshark.  I also used the screen capture software tool, Camtasia Studio 7 from Techsmith, to record the screencasts which accompany the PowerPoint presentations I have made for 6 one hour class-based lessons.

One book which became central to this module and to this project is 'Rethinking Pedagogy for a Digital Age: Designing and Delivering e-learning', edited by Helen Beetham and Rhona Sharpe (Routledge, 2007).  But I also took some general themes on the issues of technology - for purposes other than simply enabling content to be transmitted more effectively - from Diana Laurillard's Plenary session at IATEFL, Glasgow, 2012.  Laurillard also wrote the foreward to the previously mentioned book.

 A short clip from Diana Laurillard's Plenary Session from IATEFL, Glasgow.

I originally just uploaded the project specification sheet, but as of 16 October 2012, I have added below the full assignment, including PPP sheets:-

Professional Practice (ICT) Assignment - Complete

A Camtasia Studio produced video, which I presented to my fellow students, is shown below. There is a 'blended' version of this, which mixes the original video with the face-to-face presentation given to my peers in the final week of term, on the video page of this blog:

Here are four (of six) downloadable PowerPoint Presentations which I created for the proposal.  They are free to adapt or use but please remember that they were created for a proposal to introduce an innovative tool into an ELT setting and are not actually going to be used at CAFA.... yet!

Teacher training my brainshark - 1 introduction

Teacher training my brainshark - 2 uploading content and recording audio

 Teacher training my brainshark - 3 working with photos or video

 

View more PowerPoint from Phil Longwell

The full, complete set of screencasts (tutorials) for the proposed induction course can be found by following the links below. I will submit the whole thing - including the 6,000 word essay, as my final piece of assessed work for term 2, on 24 April.

CAFA:MyBrainshark Tutorials - Click Here

Final note: This is only a proposal.  I do not work at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, but I did so from 2009-10.  This is a marked assignment on my MA course.  MyBrainshark has a lot of uses but there are hardly any studies published on using it in English Language Teaching.  I like to share, so have put the created content out there on scribd (the project proposal), screencast.com (7 screencasts) and on slideshare (6 PowerPoints).  The ideas can be taken, modified and adapted as necessary.  You would need to investigate this yourself and if you wanted to introduce the tool to teachers, create your own teacher training material as I have done.

Update (21/05/12):  I received 75% for this 30 credit assignment.

#16 Camtasia Studio + The Flipped Classroom

 

 What is it? What does it do?

Camtasia is a sophisticated tool for recording, editing, and publishing your screen videos.   It is part of a group of tools used for screencasting, in which you record whatever is playing on your computer screen, to be played back, edited or embedded onto the net.

You can create software tutorials and demonstrations in Flash and streaming video formats for your global audience. Camtasia records all activity, including narration from a Windows PC screen, edits clips, and then outputs files to RealMedia, Windows Media, Flash, Quicktime, or other formats. Captions, text boxes, and graphics can be added after the video is produced.

The latest version is Camtasia Studio 7 and it is free to download and use for a 30 day trial period.   Studio 7 has enhanced caption support and a speech to text transcription facility.

You can Produce videos in Flash, send to Screencast.com or directly publish to YouTube.          The latest version comes with iPad compatibility and a brand new iPad production preset. 

 

There is a plug-in for Microsoft Power Point which I've tried already for a presentation on PLNs.

 

 
Other screencasting tools the are available are: Jing (see #12 link here), Snagit (both made by the same company, Techsmith) and ScreenR (TTV link here).

I only came across Camtasia a year ago, although the company produced the first version in 2002.  Since then I have discovered Teacher Training Videos and the extensive use of Camtasia Studio to present training on web tools for language teachers.   This site is a total inspiration for me as I have always been interested in creating and edited video – see my separate page on this blog.

The Camtasia Studio 7 site has an extensive list of training videos as well on its tutorials page. With the iPad FastTrack app you can use the tutorials on the go.

Screenshot of the tracks and timeline

Relevance to Language Learning:            'The Flipped Classroom'

Camtasia has been used in Education in the US in respect of the new methodology of the Flipped Classroom.  As the name suggests, the teaching model is turned around so that interactive, teacher-created videos are watched outside of the physical classroom and 'homework' moves to the classroom.  Rather than instructing students at the same pace within the class, students can receive the input/instruction at their own pace and consequently can continue to learn with 1:1 tuition with the teacher back in the classroom. Students have the opportunity to ask questions and work through problems with the guidance of their teachers and the support of their peers - creating a collaborative learning environment. 

What are some benefits of this method?

• Gives teachers more time to spend 1:1 supporting students.
• Gets round the old issue of students learning in different ways and at different speeds.
• Avoids 'pitching' the lesson at the middle ability students - i.e. not boring the more able students and confusing the less able ones.
• Avoids time wasting in class and improves efficiency.
• Builds stronger student/teacher relationships.
• Offers a way for teachers to share information with parents.
• Produces the ability for students to “rewind” lessons and master topics.
• Creates a collaborative learning environment in the classroom.  
• It is possible - it wasn't always!
• (adapted from Techsmith website) 

A lot of the online material about the Flipped Classroom namechecks Aaron Sams and Jonathon Bergmann, of Woodland Park, Colorado, who were two of the first to 'flip'.  For more information on them see this video.

Others argue that this began with Salman Khan and his collection of videos on Khan's Academy.  Click here for the TED talk he gave in March 2011.  The feedback from Salman's cousins from 2.07 minutes in is interesting for the idea of flipping.

How can it be used?

The traditional method of instructing students by showing a presentation, giving a talk, essentially teaching from the front is pointless.  It is a waste of student time because students can do this by themselves in their own time, expose themselves to the content and repeat if necessary.  When the students come to class the teacher is now free to work in smaller groups or 1:1 with them.  The meaningful input, therefore, comes before class time and collaborative and constructivist understanding develops in classroom sessions.  Questions and answers are much more manageable when the teacher is freed up. 

Camtasia, as a screencasting tool, has everything a teacher needs to develop online instruction/tutorial. Studio 7 is a more sophisticated version of what was originally something quite similar to Windows Movie Maker - which I have used zillions of times.  Well, maybe hundreds. 

For my Professional Practice module, which followed directly from my ICT in ELT module at Warwick, I have proposed to develop 6 hours of instructional material using Camtasia but to show teachers how they can use another tool, MyBrainshark (#6) with students.  I have chosen to do this for my project  because of my strong interest in creating and editing video.  I have also put forward a dissertation proposal on using Camtasia itself vis-a-vis the flipped classroom as there is not a lot of proper research out there on using it within ELT. 

SEE MY PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE PROJECT PROPOSAL BELOW

To a large extent, flipping the classroom appeals to me - not least, because my name is Philip and my nickname is 'Flip' !!

To see the actual presentation being given, check out the video page, or click here.